Braintree neighbors embrace plan for new school

No neighbors in the Braintree Highlands offered objections to a British preparatory school hoping to open a 20-acre campus in the neighborhood.

Neal Simpson The Patriot Ledger @nsimpson_ledger

Neighbors in the Braintree Highlands are offering an enthusiastic welcome for a British preparatory school hoping to open a 20-acre campus in the neighborhood.

Residents rattled off a series of questions and suggestions Wednesday night as they heard details of CATS Academy’s plans for the former Norfolk County Hospital grounds off Washington Street, but none voiced any objection to the project. Many residents said they were excited at the prospect of having the school as a neighbor. The proposal even earned a round of applause from the crowd of more than 50 after Councilor Dan Clifford asked the audience what they thought.

“That place has been an eyesore,” South Street resident Mike Barbuto said of the hospital building, which has sat empty since 2008. “It needs to be done.”

CATS Academy, an internationally-focused boarding school with three campuses in the United Kingdom, wants to convert the 1920s hospital into an academic building and add a single-story gymnasium to the west. Plans also call for three new three-story dormitories that would be built in what is now a wooded area that slopes away from the back of the hospital building.

“We really tried to find a site that would allow CATS to become a traditional secondary school, a traditional New England campus, and we were amazed when we found this site,” said architect Bob Stansell.

Head of School Jim Tracy sought to assure residents that the school would bring little additional traffic to the neighborhood because its students, who are almost entirely from outside the U.S., are not allowed to have cars, and many of the school’s faculty would live on campus. Tracy also told neighbors that the academy would closely monitor its more than 400 students and keep their schedules full throughout the day.

“We are very serious about keeping track of our students,” he said. “We do that for safety – we want to make sure our students are safe – but it also means they are not just wandering the neighborhood.

Clifford told neighbors that the arrival of a high school campus in the Highlands could also give the town new leverage as it tries to persuade state officials to address traffic issues on Route 37, which has been a major concern for neighbors going back decades. He said the school’s investment in the property, which is expected to be between $20 million and $25 million, could even increase property values in the neighborhood.

“This one, I think, is a home run,” he said.

Neighbors said they were relieved to learn that the school would be using Washington Street for deliveries instead of South Street, which often backs up as cars try to turn left onto Route 37. Others said they hoped the development could finally convince the state to install a long-desired traffic signal at the intersection of South and Washington streets.

Tracy said the school hopes to have crews start construction by June and finish in time to welcome students to campus in the fall of 2015. Officials will appear before the planning board April 8 and the zoning board later in the month.

Contact Neal Simpsonat nesimpson@ledger.com or follow him on Twitter @NSimpson_Ledger.